Davao City High School Batch 1988

Dear Friends,

Greetings !!! As you all know our daughter Kym (younger sister of Kido) is a special child born deaf and blind and was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Her life is a story of faith and hope. When she turned 4, the thought of her never able to walk encouraged us to search for a therapy or cure to treat her condition.

In this pursuit, we were able to try a breakthrough in restorative rehabilitation that builds a recovery pattern by addressing weaknesses within the blood and oxygen circulation of the respiratory system. This is called The Scotson Technique (TST). It was developed through more than 13 years of research and practice by Linda Scotson who was committed to finding a cure for her son Doran who had Cerebral Palsy. Kym and thousands of children worldwide with brain injuries have made significant progress through this drug-free program.

Kym’s very remarkable progress is her breathing and behavior. She used to be admitted to the hospital almost every two months due to respiratory problems (CP children experience the same problem). She was very stiff and very hard to manage. Since starting the therapy (Cathy does it everyday since January 2005), her muscles are more relaxed, we can “touch-commuicate” with her, and more importantly, she never got sick again for the last 2 years.

Conventional approaches rely on the stretching of limbs and manipulation. Other alternative approaches use high-tech equipment (including space suits and electric shocks). TST relies only on the use of face towels which mothers will use in making very light massages on different areas of the body. We thought that this would be a perfect setting for the Filipino family since there have been a steady decline in the number of physical therapists (due to the Nursing trend) and expectedly, the cost per session became higher.

Cathy and Kym were supposed to return to the UK last April but instead we invited Linda Scotson and her team to come to Davao so that more children can benefit. Linda Scotson has graced us and will be sending her senior therapists to Davao City this January 2007. They will conduct two-week training sessions for parents on the TST. 36 children will be measured, assessed and given an individualized therapy program that will be developed based on the child’s condition. For a period of 5 days, the parents will be then taught to carry out their child’s therapy program at home.

Sharing Ms. Scotson’s vision, we hope to make this endeavor sustainable and be able to accommodate more families in the future and further reduce training cost. However for their first visit, each of the 36 families need to raise P25,000 to cover the training costs (This has been reduced from their regular price of 1,400 Pounds or P140,000). While there are some families who can afford, most cannot.

This is why the parents are orgaizing a FunRun “Run and Advance” at the SM City Grounds (Davao City) on Dec 10, 2006 at 6 AM. Once again, in behalf of the 36 families, we seek your and your friends’ support for this cause. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any clarification or questions.

You Can Help The Children Advance.

God bless.

Denton and Cathy

please check their website www.advancecentre.org.uk

By Nina Margarita Castrillo / Child Communicator

BEING in a private school for nine years straight made me think that that’s all there is to schooling. But when I moved to a new school I found out that there is a whole new world out there.

When I first entered my new school, it was a bit hard for me to get used to it. It was hot, muddy and by the looks of it, over-populated. But every bad news has good news and lots of interesting facts. Like, did you know that there are around 2,000-plus first year students alone, and that there are 48 sections for that year level? And this very school started on 1922 but was only proclaimed as a national high school just recently.

There, instead of teachers moving from one classroom to another for different subjects and classes, the students are the ones who move from place to place.

When it is raining, then you need an umbrella. When it’s hot, then you still need an umbrella.

And there are a lot of different kinds of sections. There’s the special class or the node, the honor class, the general section and the SPA also known as special program for the arts.

I don’t know if our lunchtime is longer or shorter. All I know is in the special section, our lunch time is at 11:16 12 o’clock. And the honor class and the special section have more subjects than the other sections.

And academically speaking, I find this school very nice. Because here all the students have an even chance to go and compete.

For example in Math Quiz Bee. To join the Math Quiz Bee, all the students will take the phase one, and so on. Not like in my old school they just choose the students. So its unfair for the rest.

For the contests and competitions there, there are field demos and more contests than you can imagine. It wasn’t like this in my old school where there were but a few.

Especially in the SPA, there are a lot of students who play the guitar so well. The dance troupe have a whole host of dances to perform.

Indeed there’s a whole new world out there in our public schools, an I just realized that now.

*****

Nina Margarita del Rosario Castrillo or Meg, 13, is a first year student at the Davao City National High School.

Meg is a member of the Children and Youth Communicators’s Team of the Sixth Countrywide Programme for Children (CPC VI).